Padres 4, Yankees 3, and if you want the headline, here it is: New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is now the only pitcher in MLB history to open a game by allowing three straight home runs more than once in a career. He did it in 2022 against the Twins. He did it again Sunday at Petco Park, and Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado made sure his first fifteen pitches of the afternoon all landed in the seats.
Tatis went the other way, 371 feet to right. Cronenworth pulled one 343 feet to left. Machado didn't bother picking a side -- he put a 109-mph missile 416 feet into dead center. Back-to-back-to-back, and the Yankees were down 0-3 before they'd even taken the field a second time. (It's only the second time in Padres history a lineup's done that to open a game. The other time was 1987. Cole's a completist.)
The Rally That Almost Was
Down 0-4 after Luis Campusano tacked on a leadoff homer in the 7th, the Yankees finally got moving in the 8th. After Ben Rice struck out to open the inning, Cody Bellinger singled and Paul Goldschmidt walked, and Spencer Jones ripped a double past the left fielder to score Bellinger and cut it to 1-4.
Then Aaron Boone went to the bench, and it paid off immediately. Amed Rosario, pinch-hitting for Jazz Chisholm Jr., slapped a grounder back at Padres reliever Adrian Morejon. Morejon's throw to first got away from him, and both Paul Goldschmidt and Jones came around to score. 4-3, just like that -- the single biggest swing in win probability of the entire game.
(Rosario doesn't start that inning. He ends it one pinch-hit single away from being the story of the day.)
Star of the Game: Michael King
Credit where it's due -- the Padres right-hander outpitched Cole by a mile. Six innings, zero runs, four hits, three walks, three strikeouts, and a Yankees offense that had nothing going against him until Morejon started throwing the ball around the infield. King picked up the win to move to 10-9. Mason Miller closed it out in the 9th for his 33rd save.
Cole's Line, and a Costly Quiet Bat
Strip out the first fifteen pitches and Cole was fine -- seven innings, six hits, four earned, zero walks, three strikeouts. That's the frustrating part. He took the loss to fall to 8-8, but a start that started 0-3 in the blink of an eye was never going to end any other way. John Schreiber threw a clean 8th in relief.
The rest of the lineup didn't do Cole any favors early, going quietly against King for six innings before the two-out fireworks. Ben Rice walked once and struck out twice. Ryan McMahon went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, including a called third strike in the 9th that Padres catcher Luis Campusano actually had to challenge to get -- the review overturned the on-field call. Austin Wells walked with two outs right after, but Ben Rice went down looking to end it.
Looking Ahead
The Yanks drop the finale and the series, 2-1, and head home at 81-62. Still second in the AL East, still 4.0 back of the division -- but still holding a comfortable grip on the top wild-card spot. Rockies come to the Bronx Tuesday. Cole's next turn in the rotation would be a good time to face the first three batters of a lineup that isn't the '26 Padres.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
